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11/21/2013

Yet another rule making sure that poor people won't be able to defend themselves

New Jersey has a law mandating that once technology is available to prevent a gun from being used by an unauthorized person, only that type of handgun may be sold in the state. Of course, police are exempt from this requirement because of reliability concerns. But there is also a cost issue. From the WSJ:

To use the Armatix, the gun's owner must enter a five-digit passcode into the watch, which then communicates wirelessly with the weapon to unlock it. The user can set the pistol to be active for one to eight hours. . . .

$1,800 for a handgun versus about $450. How many poor people can afford a $1,350 additional cost of buying a gun? Early this year I wrote about what appears a deliberate push by Democrats to price poor people out of owning guns. The problem here is that poor minorities who live in high crime urban areas are the ones who benefit the most from owning guns for self protection and they are also the very ones who are going to be priced out of owning them.